Company Strengthens Engineering Leadership as SAF Production and Testing Program Moves Forward; Planned ASTM Testing and Qualification Activities Intended to Support Future Airline, Aircraft, Engine and U.S. Military Customers
SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — American EcoFuels™ Inc. (OTC: AEFI) (“American EcoFuels™” or the “Company”), a developer of advanced synthetic fuel technologies, today announced the appointment of Jeff Saxinger as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), strengthening the Company’s technical and engineering leadership as it advances the development, construction and testing of its proprietary Gas-to-Liquids (“GTL”) and Coal-to-Liquids (“CTL”) technologies and prepares to produce aviation fuel for testing and qualification.
Saxinger, a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.), brings more than 32 years of engineering and project-management experience, including 13 years in shop fabrication engineering. His background encompasses mechanical, process, electrical and instrumentation disciplines, as well as extensive experience with compressors, turboexpanders, pumps and modular process systems. He has led multidisciplinary teams through preliminary engineering, front-end engineering and design (“FEED”), detailed engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning.
His experience also includes the engineering of gas-processing plants involving separation, compression, amine sweetening, refrigeration, glycol dehydration, CO₂ removal, liquids fractionation, steam and hot-oil systems, and waste-heat recovery.
“Jeff is a great addition to our team and to American EcoFuels™ at an important point in the Company’s development, as our engineering effort for producing SAF for testing is starting now,” said Brent Nelson, Executive Chairman of American EcoFuels™. “Jeff brings decades of practical engineering, fabrication, project-management and gas-processing experience. We believe that experience will be extremely valuable as we move our technology from engineering and development into physical systems capable of producing fuels for testing.”
Nelson continued, “Our objective is not simply to demonstrate that we can produce a synthetic aviation fuel. We intend to undertake the applicable ASTM testing and qualification pathway for our aviation fuels, with the goal of developing fuels capable of being accepted for their intended applications by commercial airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, and appropriate branches and programs of the U.S. military. As that technical and qualification work advances, one of our commercial objectives is to begin developing and pursuing potential offtake agreements with these categories of customers.”
Extensive Process and Project Engineering Experience
Saxinger’s experience is particularly relevant to American EcoFuels’ planned development program. His recent work includes serving as project manager on a multidisciplinary team designing and building a major greenfield sour-gas processing plant with sulfur recovery and serving as Project Engineering Manager for the refurbishment of a steam methane reformer hydrogen-generation plant used to supply a diesel desulfurization process.
Earlier in his career, Saxinger managed and engineered major gas-processing, compression, fractionation, pumping and related infrastructure projects. His experience includes a 33,000-barrel-per-day C2+ fractionation train FEED project, gas compressor stations, liquids-handling facilities and sour-gas processing plants.
Saxinger also has extensive fabrication-shop and field experience involving high-pressure compressor systems, CO₂ injection systems, process equipment, piping, pumps, valves and instrumentation. His technical background includes work with API and ASME engineering standards relevant to petroleum, petrochemical and natural-gas processing equipment.
Saxinger earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and has completed additional university-level coursework in natural-gas processing as well as specialized training involving underground gas storage, acid-gas compression and injection, reciprocating compressors and ASME piping codes. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan.
Leadership and Engineering Update
As American EcoFuels™ accelerates its proprietary GTL and CTL development and testing program, Travis Yakimishyn is assuming the role of Senior Electrical Engineer, allowing him to take an even more hands-on role in the Company’s engineering activities.
In this position, Yakimishyn will focus his experience directly on the design, development, testing and advancement of electrical and technical solutions supporting the American EcoFuels™ GTL and CTL platforms. The Company believes this increased engineering focus will further strengthen the technical team as American EcoFuels™ progresses from its current experimental program toward increasingly advanced systems.
With Saxinger serving as Chief Technology Officer and Yakimishyn assuming a more focused and hands-on engineering role, the Company intends to build an integrated engineering organization capable of supporting process engineering, system integration, fabrication, commissioning, fuel production, testing and eventual commercial-scale deployment.
From Engineering to Fuel Qualification and Commercial Offtake
American EcoFuels™ is developing proprietary GTL and CTL processes designed to convert carbon-containing feedstocks into synthesis gas and subsequently into synthetic hydrocarbons through catalytic conversion and downstream upgrading.
The Company’s current development strategy is designed to progress from engineering and experimental work toward the production of sufficient quantities of aviation fuel for laboratory evaluation and subsequent qualification activities.
American EcoFuels™ intends to pursue the applicable ASTM International qualification and specification pathway required for its particular synthetic aviation-fuel pathway. The Company expects this process to involve extensive analytical testing and evaluation of fuel properties and performance. Any ultimate use of the Company’s fuels by commercial or military customers would remain subject to the applicable ASTM specifications, regulatory requirements, customer approvals and, where relevant, military fuel specifications and qualification procedures.
The Company believes successful progression through this process could provide the technical foundation for discussions with:
In parallel with its engineering and fuel-testing program, American EcoFuels™ intends to pursue discussions regarding potential long-term fuel offtake agreements. Such agreements, if successfully negotiated, could provide future commercial facilities with contracted demand and assist the Company in planning production capacity and project financing.
